Carbon fiber and composites thereof are increasingly being employed as structural materials in various industries, in large part due to their high strength and low weight. The applications include, for example, the automotive, sports, aviation, tools, and military equipment. As the cost of carbon fiber continues to fall, the market for carbon fiber continues to expand.
Although carbon fiber is generally known for its high strength characteristics, the mechanical properties of carbon fiber are highly dependent on the production process. Depending on the process conditions, particularly in the stabilization and carbonization steps, the carbon fiber may have a non-optimal strength for certain applications, or be generally of acceptable strength but suffer from brittleness or inadequate elastic modulus. There is a persistent and continued need in the art for carbon fiber having improved mechanical properties.